The Motherly Figure
by Swalker2000
Summary: The summer holidays are here, and the Gru family prepare themselves for the happiness they will feel in each other's company. But when a serious event occurs, a mature, motherly figure is needed. And Margo finds herself being the one to provide that... CONTAINS VERY DARK AND PRETTY DISTURBING SCENES
1. The Perfect Day

**_Despicable Me_ : The Motherly Figure**

 _This is my first attempt at writing any form of fan fiction so please bear that in mind. However, I still would appreciate honest reviews. Please tell me if I mess it up and how I can improve. Thank you :)_

 _This story takes place a little while after the events of Despicable Me 3 (loved the film btw). All the girls are still the same age. Margo being 12, Edith being 9 and Agnes being 6. If you want to know where I got those ages from, well the guy who wrote the DM films (Cinco Paul) stated that on Twitter. I always imagined them that age anyways._

 _One thing I didn't like about the film was the lack of emotional family moments though. I thought that while watching DM2 as well. I thought I could make this story follow the minds of each of the family members, and see how they would react when something devastating happens. Dru also won't be present in this story, not that I don't like his character or anything (cuz I actually really liked Dru), but it's just that I felt the story worked better without him. Maybe he'll get a cameo, I haven't decided yet..._

 _I'll also try and give Gru the best east-European accent as I can. It is a little difficult though :)_

 _Anyway, hope everyone enjoys._

* * *

 **Chapter One -  
** _ **The Perfect Day**_

The morning light began to soak itself into Gru and Lucy's bedroom. Gru was wide awake and watched as the rays glided over his bed. He found it comforting, and found himself smiling as he laid there. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and had been laying awake for half-an-hour before the light had entered the room. He also ended up, unintentionally, having a late night. He couldn't remember exactly what time he managed to drift off, but it was some time around 2:30am. Lucy was fast asleep and quietly snoring, and had been for the whole night. He shuffled over until he could see the alarm clock. The red LED lights read '5:56AM'.

 _'3 hours sleep! That's eet!?'_ He thought to himself as the sun's light had now completely filled the room. Gru blamed the small amount of time sleeping on his excitement, which he was now beginning to remember more clearly in his mind. A giddy smile, like one from a young boy in a candy shop, began to creep across his face. Today was the first day of the summer holidays, which meant that him, Lucy and the girls could spend the whole day together. Usually, when the girls were at school, Gru would find himself becoming miserable as he missed the company of his whole family. That is until the school day ended and they walked through the door. The next few weeks however, would be entirely different.

Lost in his train of thought, Gru began to think of the fun him and his family would have. He had planned lot's of activities, and was even considering taking them all on a family roadtrip at some point. As he found himself drifting away into his thoughts, Gru didn't realise that he had in fact been laying there thinking to himself for around twenty minutes! When he finally snapped back into reality, he decided to give up on trying to get anymore sleep. In fear of waking his beloved wife, he slowly shuffled out of bed and tip-toed to the bathroom to wash-up.

After getting dressed and getting himself ready for the day ahead, Gru decided to start getting breakfast ready. Agnes usually wakes up very early, even on the weekends, and he believed that getting her waffles done in advance was a good idea. He strolled downstairs, walked into the kitchen, made himself a cup of coffee and preheated the waffle iron he bought especially for Edith and Agnes. Margo seemed to prefer cereal as of late, which Gru didn't argue with, as that would be one less waffle to prepare.

He grabbed two large mixing bowls out of the cupboard. Stuffed flour, baking powder and sugar in one bowl and eggs, milk and butter in the other. After beating the egg mixture, he combined the contents of both bowls and ladled it into the waffle iron, making sure to keep enough for Edith. He didn't have to go to this much trouble, he could easily just buy store-bought waffles. But for the girls, he wanted them to have the very best. He then poured a small glass of milk and placed it where Agnes usually sat on the kitchen table.

A little while after, with pin-perfect timing, as the iron dinged to signal that the waffle was ready to serve, in jogged Agnes.

"Morning daddy!" she said, with an evident cheer in her voice. "Morning Agnes!" Gru replied, with the same cheer mirrored in his voice. "Sleep well?"

Before Agnes decided to reply, she ran up to the table and took her seat. The smell of the waffle being prepared had managed to sneak up to the girl's bedroom, where it woke her up to a hungry stomach. She didn't even bother to change into her overalls, she just ran to the kitchen in her blue pyjamas!

"Yeah really well!" She hastily replied. Gru could tell how hungry she was by the audible panting she was making as he lifted the waffle out of the iron and on to the plate, where he gave it a little sprinkle of sugar. He therefore thought it to be a good idea to hand the plate over to her before she ripped his hands clean off.

As he placed the plate in front of her, he was alerted to a pink figure at the doorway of the kitchen. He turned his head to see Edith standing there. For a second, Gru could hardly believe his eyes. Edith was a big fan of sleeping in and she usually stayed in bed until 11 or 12 on any day where she didn't have to go to school. And even then it was a huge pain getting her out of bed...

Edith began to feel a little uncomfortable as Gru continued to stare at her in disbelief for a few seconds, so she decided to break the silence.

"Um...hi." She muttered. Instead of responding, Gru stood up straight and looked down at his digital watch. It read '7:39AM'.

"Wha...who are yoo?" He said through a playful smile. "Yoo can't be Edith...eet's way too early."

"Shut up." Edith said through a giggle. She slowly trudged over to the kitchen table and sat down alongside Agnes. "I just smelt waffles so I thought I'd come down early."

Gru didn't buy this for a second. He prepared waffles pretty much every morning, and Edith had never woken up this early before. Gru looked down at her and noticed that she seemed incredibly tired. She also, like Agnes, hadn't bothered to get dressed and still wore her pink onesie. He figured that she shared the same summer holiday excitement as he had, and that she had decided to force herself to wake up early.

"I'll get yours cookin' then." Gru replied, after giving his middle-child a big hug. He poured the remainder of the waffle mixture into the iron, set it to cook, poured another glass of milk and placed it down in front of Edith, who was trying hard to stay awake.

As he waited for the waffle to cook, Gru sat down next to Agnes and started to converse with the two girls. As always, Agnes was very up for chatter and did so contently. Edith however was struggling to talk as she felt the bags under her eyes getting heavier. The only thing stopping her from passing out on the table was the sound of Agnes' loud, energetic little voice in her ear. To make it worse, the smell of the waffle cooking was making her increasingly more hungry and increasingly more agitated. She was beginning to regret waking herself up early. She began sipping on her milk, hoping that it would give her some sort of energy.

As Gru and Agnes talked and talked, time passed quickly. The 15 minutes it took for the waffle to cook felt like a second for the two of them. Just as he did for Agnes, Gru placed the waffle on the plate, gave it a sprinkle of sugar and placed it in front of Edith. She didn't waste any time and began to start eating. She knew that this would wake her up, at least a little.

As Gru and Agnes continued to chatter and Edith continued to eat, Margo had now woken up and got to the kitchen. She always woke up around 8am, so this was no suprise. Unlike her younger sisters, Margo got herself dressed and ready for the day before she did anything else. As she strolled into the kitchen, she was taken aback by the sight of Edith sitting at the table at this hour. Edith turned and noticed the shock in her eyes.

"Yes! Yes! I'm up at 8am!" She said through a mouthful of waffle, before pausing for a second to swallow, and sarcastically muttering "It's shocking..." Margo responded with a small chuckle.

"Morning Margo." Gru said as he got up off his seat at the table. "I'll get your cereal ready."

"I'll do it Dad, don't worry." Margo replied. Gru quickly turned to her with a slightly hurt expression. He was hit hard by this small sign of independence. Margo was showing more and more maturity as the days passed by, and Gru was starting to feel that he was already _losing_ his little girl. However, just as Gru was getting himself worked up over something so small, Margo walked over and gave him a big hug, reminding him that she was still young and dependent on him.

After letting go of Gru, she wandered over to the kitchen cupboard, grabbed the box of cereal bought especially for her, wandered to the fridge, grabbed the milk carton and fixed herself up a bowl of cereal. She then carried the bowl over to the table and took up her familiar spot beside Edith.

"So what are we gonna do today?" Agnes asked.

"Let's wait for Lucy to wake up first." Gru replied. "Den we'll decide."

Agnes responded with a quick nod. Gru looked around at the three girls. It had been a while since it was just the four of them, and he was starting to miss the times where he had the girls all to himself. Don't get him wrong, he _loves_ Lucy and is a _lot_ happier having met her. But occasionally, he would think back to the days of just the three girls and him, with a smile on his face. He wondered whether or not they felt the same. He decided to waste no time, and started a long conversation.

* * *

Lucy's eyes fluttered opened to the sight of the alarm clock, which read 9am. She felt no presence behind her so she turned over to find that Gru wasn't there. He had talked up his excitement of the summer holidays the night before, so she figured that he woke up early in anticipation. She could hear the distant laughs of the three girls downstairs, and she couldn't help herself but smile and laugh along with them, even though she had no clue what they were laughing about. It was times like these in the mornings where she felt completely engulfed with happiness, and was more than grateful for meeting Gru. She laid there for a minute, appreciating the feeling of the happiness bubbling up inside her, and then decided to get up and get herself ready for the day.

After getting changed out of her pyjamas, she came downstairs and entered the kitchen, where she was met by the welcome of the girls and Gru.

"Mom!" Agnes shrieked, giving Lucy a huge smile.

"Hey gurrllss." Lucy responded, giving each one of them a kiss and a cuddle. "Hey Gru."

"Morning honey." Gru replied through a beaming smile. "Slept well I hope."

"With you beside of me, of course I slept well." Lucy warmly replied as she gave Gru a huge kiss. Margo and Agnes heartwarmingly watched on with a smile. They loved watching their parents show affection. Edith however hated it. She turned away and had to stop her breakfast from coming back up.

"Gross!" She proclaimed. Lucy chuckled and moved over to the toaster, where she made herself two slices of toast. After covering them in butter, she energetically strolled back over to the table, where Gru moved himself over a little to make room for her to sit down. The second that Lucy sat down, Agnes turned very quickly to face Gru.

"So, now can we talk about what we're gonna do today!?" She said, bouncing up and down and speaking so loud and fast that Gru jumped a little as she started to speak.

"Oh! Of course." Gru replied, before turning to look around at his family. "What does ev'ryone fancy doing today den?"

Margo replied quickest. "I heard the museum are hosting an all-day science fair, where we get to learn about different chemical elements. We could go do that..."

"Yeah...if we wanted to die of boredom." Edith scowled as she crossed her arms. She was still a little tired and was feeling grouchy.

"Well, what do yoo fancy doing den Edith?" Gru asked. This had Edith a little stumped. She uncrossed her arms, looked down at the table and thought for a few seconds.

"I dunno..." She responded. This got Gru slightly frustrated. He was so caught up in excitement for today that he completely forgot the aggrivation that comes along with finding an activity that kept everyone entertained. Thankfully, Agnes came to his rescue.

"We could go down to the park!" She excitedly exclaimed. Gru smiled as he watched everyone nod with agreement.

"Great idea Agnes!" He said. Agnes felt her little face light up as a great feeling of accomplishment came across her. She knew she saved the day!

"Ev'ryone get changed and we'll head down to de park." Gru said, knowing that today was gonna be a very good day.

* * *

The family of five arrived at the local park, each with their own individual big smile. They stared for a second at the large place in front of them. The local park was huge. It had everything a park needed to make it fun. More importantly for Gru though, it had something that appealed to each of the girls. There were many different swings and slides for Agnes to spend hours on, there were two huge sets of monkey bars for Edith to climb, and there were a lot of trees and flowers littered around for Margo to admire and investigate. It was the perfect place for the Gru family.

"Ooo! Daddy come push me on that!" Agnes shouted with pure excitement, as she began to pull on his long black and grey scarf. Gru chuckled and allowed Agnes to pull him over to the swing-set. Edith eyed up the closest monkey bars and ran over to them, while Margo slowly wandered towards a few trees as she curiously looked around at her surroundings. Lucy smiled as she watched her family traverse to their own activities and strolled over to a small bench. She set down her handbag and sat next to it, before placing her hand into the bag and pulling out a book. She opened it, relaxed and began to read.

After around two hours of playing with Agnes, Gru was feeling exasperated. He had been pushing, running, swinging and sliding with her and he was starting to feel the consequences. Agnes was very persistent and wouldn't let Gru sit down with his wife. Even though he was grasping for air more frequently, Gru was really enjoying himself. The two hours had flown by! Margo had finally finished investigating every millimeter of the park, and turned towards Gru. He was running after Agnes with a flush face, indicating the severity of his fatigue to her. She decided she would go play with Agnes and allow Gru a bit of time to himself, thus continuing to prove her ever-growing maturity to him.

"Hey Agnes!" Margo shouted as Gru's legs were at the point of giving away. "Wanna come pick flowers with me?"

Even though she was having a lot of fun with Gru, Agnes did want to spend some time with her older sister.

"Okay!" Agnes loudly replied, as she sprinted over to the flowers. Gru gave Margo a thanking smile and proceeded to sit down next to his wife.

"Had fun?" Lucy asked, setting her book down on her lap, but making sure not to lose her page.

"So much fun." Gru said through gasping breaths. "But there ees only so much fun a feefty year old man can take."

Lucy giggled and continued to read her book. Gru sat there watching each of the girls having fun and smiled. For him, watching them play was as much fun as playing with them.

* * *

 _So that was my first chapter. I hope everyone liked it._

 _This chapter was just here to get you back into familiarity with the Gru family. The next chapter will get down to the details. I'll post it tomorrow._

 _Thanks for getting this far though! Please remember to review :)_


	2. The Deteriorating Night

_As promised, here's the second chapter._

 _This chapter will begin to slowly build the theme that I had in mind for this story. I'm not gonna reveal it just yet, but it will be explored thoroughly. I promise!_

 _Hopefully, it won't disappoint!_

 _Thanks to anyone who reviewed the first chapter. It means a lot more than you may think :)_

* * *

 **Chapter Two -  
** _ **The Deteriorating Night**_

Later that evening, the Gru family were gathered around the kitchen table eating dinner. Or burgers to be more precise. They hadn't done much, all they did was visit the park and watch TV after getting home, but each one of them had seriously enjoyed their day.

Gru was very tired at this point. The lack of sleep and the running around at the park weren't combining very well. But he was still beyond happy. Sitting there around the table, chatting to his family, was one of the best activities in the world to him. And he wasn't gonna let some silly tiredness stop him from having fun.

After everyone had finished their dinner, they all went out into the back garden to enjoy the final hours of light. Edith and Agnes played in their little sandbox that Gru bought especially for them, while Margo simply sat there staring at the sunset with a glass of lemonade. She was feeling a very warm feeling of happiness as she sat alongside her mother and father.

She felt like she was beginning to let go...

Meanwhile, Gru was beginning to find staying awake a challenge as the mood lighting from the sun was beginning to make him feel drowsy. Lucy noticed this and chuckled.

"Why don't you go off to bed early, honey?" She pondered to him. Gru considered it for a second, before remembering what he thought a little while earlier.

"No way." Gru said firmly. "I'm haveeng wayyy too much fun to go to bed."

Lucy smiled and shrugged as she got back to staring at the sunset. Gru figured that he just had to get active to wake himself back up. At that moment, the oppurtunity to do so presented itself.

"Hey, Dad!" Edith called over, with a menacing smile on her face. "I bet I can beat you in a race around the garden!"

Gru's legs were still aching a little after his very energetic day, but he didn't dare refuse her.

"Oh, you're on!" He yelled back, getting up out of his seat and walking over to the back wall of the house. "De first to get to de back fence and back wins!"

Edith smiled, jumped up out of the sandbox and jogged over to where Gru was standing.

"You're gonna get creamed, old man." Edith playfully replied. Agnes found herself getting caught up in the fun, as she ran over to the two and began to count down.

"3...2...1...GOOO!" Agnes screamed as the two raced forward. Gru instantly felt the pain in his leg argue with him to sit down, but he ignored it and carried on running. One thing he hadn't realized about his 9-year old daughter, was just how fast she really was. Edith had stormed ahead and had made it to the back fence before Gru had even made it halfway across the garden.

She ran back, passed a tired and shocked Gru, stuck out her tongue to him and made it back to the back wall.

"I'm just that good." Edith proudly proclaimed as she leaned up against the wall, taking in the victory. She looked over to Gru who had only just made it to the back fence. He was desperately gasping for air and was starting to feel a pain grow at the back of his head. He figured that forcing himself to get active was probably not the best of ideas. He strolled back to the garden table and chuckled in defeat.

"Yoo were right." Gru said, hiding the pain that he was feeling in multiple locations. "I got creamed..."

He made it back just in time to watch the sun disappear. He held onto his wife and cherished this moment. The girls looked up at it and took in the view as well.

This really was the perfect day...

* * *

Later that night, the girls were running around their bedroom, finding activities to do in every corner.

Agnes had spent the past hour pretending she was a unicorn, who had the task of saving the world. Just like her father...except without the unicorn part.

Edith was simply colouring. Before realizing that her destructive side wasn't being catered to, and got up and kicked over the house of blocks she built the night before.

Margo was sitting in her bed reading a book about teenage vampires in love. She felt herself connect more and more with the characters in the book as she read on.

As the clock clicked over to 9:30pm, Gru entered the bedroom to announce that it was bedtime.

"Come on den gurls. Lights out." Gru blurted. As he was expecting, the girls gave a collective groan. This happened pretty much every night, and Gru knew exactly how to handle it.

"I know. I know. But we don't want to be tired for tomorrow now do we." He exclaimed, expecting to see the girls give in. But they didn't.

"Please can we stay up for just a little while longer." Agnes pleaded, giving Gru the puppy dog stare. Gru was beginning to get accustomed to this and didn't let her wide eyes affect him, even if they never ceased to soften him just a little.

"No, no, eet's very late Agnes." He replied softly, as he knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder. Margo and Agnes gave in and began to get themselves tucked in. Edith however wasn't done arguing. She wasn't one to give up without a fight, and Gru knew that.

"It's not that late." Edith quickly replied. Gru was already tired enough with the long day he had had. He was developing a bit of a headache and was in no mood to let her beat him.

"Eet's very late for a leetle gurl dough!" Gru exclaimed. Edith could hear the frustation building in his voice, but that only fueled her rebellious spirit.

"It would be too late if we had school in the morning!" She pointed out. Gru found himself stumped at her logical response. She did make sense. There wasn't any need to get up at 7am anymore, since there wasn't any school to get up for. Thus there wasn't any need to go to bed early. He looked at her for a few seconds, before feeling his frustrated gaze soften. After seeing this change in expression, Edith knew she'd won.

"Okay, fine den. I'll let yoo have another hour." Gru said, before turning to leave. However, before he could do so, Agnes jumped out of bed and began tugging on Gru's leg.

"Can you play unicorns with me?" She energetically asked, bouncing up and down. Gru was about to refuse, before he remembered the reason why he was excited for today in the first place. It meant he got to spend more time with his family. Why would he turn this opportunity down?

"Of course I weel." He said, with a comforting voice.

Before he knew it, he was lost in Agnes' imagination. And even though he was a middle-aged man, he couldn't help but feel enthralled as his youngest daughter swept him off to a million different locations and stories.

Agnes was beyond happy playing with her father. When she looked up at her, Margo couldn't remember the last time she saw her youngest sibling as happy as she was that night. Margo couldn't help but warmly smile when she saw Agnes's little adoring face light up...

The hour he had spent in the girls' room flew by. Finally, as the clock reached 10:30, Gru _had_ to put the girls to bed, even if he was having a tonne of fun. This was very late for them now.

"Okay, den gurls. Now eet really _ees_ time for bed!" He exclaimed. He prepared himself for the arguing that would surely follow, but nothing of the sort happened. It seemed like the girls had finally had enough as well, and the three of them got into bed without any hesitation. Gru went over and gave them each a goodnight kiss before walking over and turning the bedroom light off. As the light quickly faded, Gru felt a lot of weight in his head, that he hadn't even realized was there, lift away. He stepped out into the hallway and felt a pounding pain hit him very hard, as the light in the hall flashed in his eyes. Gru had to steady himself to this unexpected event, before he heard the strangely loud voice of Lucy in the background.

"Gru!" She shouted. "Fancy watching a movie with me before bed?"

Gru needed to reject her proposition and head to bed. He was very fatigued and his head was screaming with pain. However, he always had trouble refusing someone he loved.

"I'll be there een a meenute." He loudly replied, as he trudged down the hallway and down the stairs towards the living room. He held onto his head in the hopes of the pain lessening. But it wasn't...

* * *

Lucy was enjoying this movie a lot! The plot was brilliant, the actors were fantastic and the characters were completely believable. She was so engrossed in the movie, that she didn't even realize that she hadn't given the girls a goodnight kiss...

Gru wasn't enjoying himself on the other hand. The room was very dark and the TV was the only light source. Every time he glanced at it, his head would sting and his eyes would burn. He didn't pay the pain any attention, and he just passed it off as being overtired. I mean, it was now approaching midnight.

As the movie credits finally began to play, Gru found himself sighing with relief inside. He didn't dare sigh on the outside though, because he could see how much his wife was treasuring this moment as they snuggled up on the sofa, and wanted to avoid offending her.

Gru got up as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast, and found himself lightly jogging to the door.

"Wow. Slow down Gru." Lucy said after noticing the unexpected pace her husband was presenting.

"Sorry." Gru responded through a large yawn. "I'm just very tired and my bed ees calling."

Lucy began to notice Gru's shattered face for the first time that night. For a moment, she felt as if she was talking to a sleepy child.

"Oh. Well go answer those calls! I'll be up in a minute." She replied, before walking over and switching the TV off.

Gru didn't waste any time. He attempted to dart out of the door, but could only manage a timid stroll. The same painful feeling from before hit him as he transitioned from the dark living room to the bright hallway.

Gru was beginning to get worried. He had worked himself tired many times before, but never before had the light hurt this much to look at. Gru squinted his eyes just enough so he didn't feel the pain as bad, but just enough so that he could actually see where he was going, and began to make the journey to his room.

After getting into his bedroom and finally managing to get into his bed, Gru snuggled his head down into his pillow, expecting the headache to lift. However, the pain refused to go and his head continued to throb as he laid there. He closed his eyes and allowed his brain to go to sleep, which the pain was making increasingly difficult, and after about a minute, Gru drifted off.

Lucy walked into her bedroom slowly. She looked over to Gru, who was fast asleep, and smiled. She was finding him surprisingly cute. She carefully got into bed, where she was met by the soft comfort of her mattress.

As she laid there, she played the events of the day over in her head. The way she was greeted by her family, the time they spent at the park, the gleeful conversations they had and the happiness she felt throughout all of it. She felt a huge feeling of love build up inside her. Love that she never had the opportunity to give to anyone else before...

Before she allowed herself to sleep, she rolled over and kissed Gru's head.

But now she did have someone to give that love to...

* * *

Even though Gru had now been asleep for thirty minutes, he was in no way relaxed. He was having an unscheduled stress dream. He couldn't really explain what was happening in the dream, but he could see that everything wasn't good. The character that he portrayed in his dream had a small mind, even though they didn't admit it. This character was feeling helpless. This character was feeling afraid. This character was feeling pressured. Even though he felt a connection with this character...this character wasn't Gru.

The dream ended up becoming so intense that Gru found himself waking up gasping for air, as if he had been for a long sprint. He turned to face Lucy, who was thankfully still fast asleep. He was afraid that he scared her with his abrupt return to consciousness.

As he smiled down at her sleeping body, something was slowly becoming apparent to Gru as his mind began to wake up more. His head was hurting twice as hard as it was earlier, and the pits of his stomach were stinging in discomfort. As he laid there for around ten seconds, cringing in pain, Gru felt as if he was going to vomit.

He jumped out of bed and ran out of the room to get to the bathroom quickly. Thankfully, he made it to the toilet before he spewed. After about a minute of vomiting, Gru found his vision was becoming very blurry and hazy, and every small sound sounded like a thumping drum.

He sat beside the toilet, trying to comprehend why he felt like this. He had been ill dozens of times before, but he had never experienced these strange symptoms. As the seconds passed, he felt the pain in his head get even bigger. The sting he felt in his stomach was finally beginning to fade, which reassured him that he could finally leave the bathroom without fear of vomiting. He decided it would be a good idea to go down to the kitchen and take a few painkillers to ease his headache. He flushed the chain and got up to leave.

As he slowly and painfully trudged downstairs to the kitchen, Gru felt his heart rate elevate. His heart was starting to beat very, _VERY_ hard. This was the hardest Gru had ever felt his heart beat. He struggled to open the doors to the kitchen, and even struggled to flick the light switch.

As he made it halfway across the kitchen, Gru felt his head become light as a feather. He started to feel a blinding pain like he had never felt before. He wanted to scream in agony, but his voice-box failed to operate. Every step he took sounded like a giant thud. His vision was now just a complete blur and his heart was practically beating out of his chest.

The last thing Gru could remember before everything went black, was his head practically float away...

* * *

 _So yeah...that chapter turned quickly._

 _Everything is getting confusing, I know, but keep reading. The next few chapters will answer any questions that you may be asking yourself..._

 _...but will probably end up giving you more questions than answers ;)_

 _I've been working hard on the story over the past few days, so the next chapter should already be up! I know...my treat :)_

 _Prepare yourself for Chapter Three, it get's pretty deep..._

 _Please review! It would help me out a lot. Thanks everyone :)_


	3. The Unnamed Feeling

_**So then...expect to see a change in tone in this chapter.**_

 _ **I've decided it's time to explore the story's theme with a lot more detail...and as I warned in the previous chapter, it may get a little deep.**_

 _ **You'll probably be burning in need of answers at the end...but don't worry, they're coming. I absolutely love writing these stories and I'm not leaving it until it's done!**_

* * *

 **Chapter Three -  
** _ **The Unnamed Feeling**_

Edith's eyes flung open to the feeling of discomfort. She really needed the bathroom. In all of the fun, she completely forgot to go before she went to bed. She shuffled around under her comfy blanket, trying to get the feeling to go away. She hated having to get up out of bed, even if it was only to go to the toilet. After a minute of rolling around, she finally gave up and slinked out of bed. She searched around for her slippers, so she didn't have to feel the ice cold hallway floor on her bare feet, but they were nowhere to be found. She couldn't just stand around anymore! She needed to go badly!

As she gave a quiet scowl, she tiptoed out of her bedroom, down the hallway and into the bathroom. She found that the bathroom light was on, even though there was nobody using it. She didn't have anytime to question it though, because if she didn't go that very second, she was gonna burst!

After finishing up and washing her hands, Edith was now finally ready to get back into bed. She was very excited to get back under her sheets and wasted no time in running down the hallway. But as she did, she noticed that a light was on downstairs.

This, coupled with the bathroom light being on, was starting to intrigue her. Even though the floor was as cold on her feet as she knew it would be, she walked on down the hallway and down the stairs, feeling the curiosity bubble up inside her.

After getting downstairs, she noticed that the light was coming from the kitchen. She was beginning to run different possibilities in her mind for why both the bathroom and kitchen lights were on. She was actually starting to get excited in anticipation. That excitement wasn't going to last for long...

As Edith peeked her head around the doorway and into the kitchen, her heart skipped a beat. There she saw Gru, laying face down on the kitchen floor. At first, she couldn't believe her eyes. She thought she was trapped in a horrible nightmare, and desperately began to pinch her arm in the hope of waking up. It was no use though, because the cold truth was...

...she was already awake.

Edith's stomach began to heave and churn in fear. Her heart was burning in anxiety. Her mind, yet adventurous and smart, was still that of a young girl's mind. To her, there were only two possible explanations. Gru was either asleep, or he was-

She couldn't even think about it. Even though she was too young to remember her parents' death, she could still vaguely recollect the feeling that was quickly beginning to sweep over her. It was a horrible feeling and she couldn't help herself but begin to cry. She didn't know the name of this feeling. But whatever it was called, it was the worst feeling she had ever felt. She continued to stand at the doorway for a few seconds, staring profusely at Gru's inanimate body.

As she stood there, Edith's mind began to think back to when she was standing there the previous morning. In fact, she realised that she was in the exact same spot, wearing the exact same clothes. She began to sincerely regret not taking that precious moment with her father more to heart, because now she may never get another precious moment with her father to take to heart...

The tears were now flooding into Edith's eyes. She calmed herself down before she got uncontrollably hysterical. She realised that she was assuming the worst and that Gru could just be asleep. She ran over to him and tried to shout in his ear, but nothing came out. That _unnamed feeling_ was refusing to let her speak. She began to strain herself until she finally muttered something.

"... _daddy_..."

She waited in anticipation for Gru to wake up. This did not happen. He still remained completely lifeless. Edith could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks. She was starting to lose hope. _The unnamed feeling_ was slowly enveloping her mind and she just couldn't take it anymore! She had to know...

...was Gru alive?

She latched onto Gru's chest and shook him with all of her strength.

"WAKE UP!" She screamed, as her voice filled with aggression. "WAAKKE UPPP!"

Gru remained completely inanimate...

...and Edith had her answer...

She buried her head into Gru's chest and broke down in tears. The only feeling she felt now was the _HORRIBLE_ _unnamed feeling_. Her mind didn't know what to do. She felt like she was lost in a sea of hurt, with nowhere to run. Unconsciously, Edith found herself beginning to speak from the depths of her heart and mind.

"Please..." She pleadingly whispered through a tsunami of tears. "Please...don't...go."

She wasn't sure where these words were coming from, but she went along with them.

"Why are you taking him from me...?"

She didn't know who she was speaking to, but again, she went along with what her mind wanted to say.

"...haven't you taken enough?"

* * *

Edith hadn't realized, but Margo had been watching her breakdown in complete shock. She was awoken by the sounds of Edith aggressively shouting _WAKE UP_ and had decided to walk downstairs to investigate. Before Margo could even comprehend what was going on, she was struck hard by the sight of Edith laying up against an unconscious Gru with tears in her eyes. She felt like she had been punched very hard in her feelings.

Just like Edith had done, she assumed the worst when coming across this depressing sight. Her mind was running off into a million directions, and she didn't have the capacity to handle it. While she watched Edith plead, she cupped her hand over her mouth and felt the tears from her eyes run underneath her wrists. Unfortunately for her, she could remember the death of her parents vividly in her mind. And this sight was bringing back unwanted feelings...

 _...unnamed feelings..._

As Edith muttered those final words, the big sister side of Margo pushed her forward to comfort her. She knelt down beside her and pulled her in for a hug, trying to get her eyes away from this horrible sight. Edith was completely hysterical at this point though, and it wasn't very easy.

"NO!" She screamed, as she attempted to violently squirm out of Margo's grasp. "DON'T TAKE ME AWAY FROM HIM!"

At this point, Margo knew the whole house had been woken up. She could hear Lucy's quick footsteps run through the upstairs hallway and down the stairs to the kitchen.

"GRU!" She shrieked as she entered the room. Lucy sprinted over to her unconscious husband and met his pulse with her fingers. She sighed a huge sigh of relief to feel his pulse beating back at her. After allowing herself to calm down, she turned to look at the girls, who were still flooded with tears. She had unintentionally ignored them when storming in.

"He's okay...he's just unconscious." She said. This was the first time she ever had to deal with something so serious with the girls, with anyone she loved in fact, and she wasn't really sure what to do or say.

Edith didn't know what unconscious meant. She figured it was another word for sleeping, which she didn't believe. She had done everything she could to wake her father up, and he remained completely inanimate. She _knew_ Lucy was lying to her!

"NO HE'S NOT!" She angrily screamed as she let go of her older sister. "STOP LYING!"

Lucy was taken aback by the way Edith shouted at her. She didn't realise how hysterical she really was, and it began to scare her. Her mind urged her to talk, but no words came out. She just stared at her middle-child, with a helpless gaze of shock.

Margo understood the concept of being unconscious, and was feeling immediately less upset. She needed 100% clarification that Gru was indeed alive. She ran over to his neck and felt his pulse just like Lucy had. Now that she could feel it beating back at her, her sadness and shock was being replaced with a comforting relief. She turned to her younger sister with a clarifying smile. She knew that Edith must've just been confused and she decided to say what Lucy _should've_ said.

"Edith. Calm down." She calmly and reassuringly spoke, as she strolled over to her sister and put both hands on her shoulders. "Unconscious means he's in a long sleep where he won't wake up until he's ready. He's alive."

Margo watched as Edith quickly began to calm down. She was still frightened and confused but the way that Margo was so calm comforted her. Edith knew that there was no way she could be this calm if Gru really was-

"After he wakes up, he will be completely fine, okay?" Margo said, giving Edith a wide and relaxing smile. Edith was now convinced. She wrapped her arms around her big sister and didn't want to let go. She was still very afraid, but the confirmation that her father was still alive made her ignore it.

Lucy watched Margo calm Edith down with a huge feeling of guilt. Why did she just stare at her? Why couldn't she muster herself to say anything?

 _Why didn't she know what to do?_

But soon, anxiety took over mind. She ran up, grabbed the phone, called 911 and explained the situation to the woman over the phone. After being told that an ambulance would arrive in ten minutes, she put down the phone and turned to face her daughters.

"How did this happen!?" She asked just as the long hug that the two sisters were sharing came to an end.

The two had as much of a clue as to what happened as Lucy did. Margo turned to face her sister, hoping she would provide the answer. Edith felt eyes on her now, so she knew she needed to respond.

"I don't know..." She whimpered, looking down at her feet. The tears were still pouring out of her eyes. "I saw that the kitchen light was on and I found him like this."

Lucy panicked and began pacing around the room, trying to think of a plan of action. Margo watched as Lucy seemed completely oblivious to the fact that her 9-year-old daughter was crying her eyes out. Feeling the need to step up again, she held her sister close and tried to make the tears go away. As she did so, she heard the faint sound of very small footsteps trudge across the upstairs hallway.

"Oh no..." Margo muttered, before letting go of Edith and sprinting out of the room. If Edith had that kind of severe reaction to her father being unconscious on the floor...

 _...what kind of reaction would Agnes have?_

She didn't want to know the answer. She managed to run fast enough to meet the little girl before she made it downstairs. Agnes was a little suprised to see Margo run towards her so fast, but her surprise was quickly replaced by confusion.

"What's going on...?" Agnes tiredly muttered. "I heard shouting..."

Margo wanted to get Agnes away immediately, but she knew that she had to do it in a way that wouldn't scare her. Doing this was proving to be easier said than done. After a few seconds of just standing there rattling her mind, Margo knew she needed to respond quickly before Agnes got worried.

"Um...Edith stepped on a piece of Lego." Margo said, starting to instantly regret giving her such a stupid excuse.

"Oh..." Agnes responded. "Well why is everyone down there?"

"Just to check if she was okay. Stepping on Lego can be painful..." Margo replied. She knew that Agnes was never gonna believe this. She awaited her to poke holes in her obvious lie.

"...is she okay?" Agnes worryingly responded.

Then again, Agnes was six.

"She's fine." Margo replied, as a small smile crept across her face. She was touched slightly by Agnes's worry towards something so small. "Come on. I'll take you back to bed."

While Agnes hopped off towards her bedroom with a large smile, Margo was still beyond frightened. She had to keep up this facade while her father was laying unconscious on the floor downstairs. Not to mention, she was worrying for Edith's mentality.

As Agnes got into bed, Margo had to pretend that she was going to sleep. She kept an eye on Agnes, waiting for her to drift off.

* * *

When she finally did, Margo quietly got up and headed downstairs towards the kitchen.

While she was gone, Edith worked herself up into a state of shock. This sudden change from excitement to...whatever that feeling was earlier, had her unable to move. With no Margo, no-one cuddled her. She needed to hold on to someone. Lucy was in the kitchen with her, but she was so pre-occupied with her worries, that she didn't do anything to relieve Edith of any of the shock.

When Margo entered the kitchen, she was saddened to see Edith looking dead forward with a blank, teary stare.

Margo faced towards Lucy with an angry expression. How could she not comfort Edith after what she'd been through? And for that matter, how could she just do nothing when Agnes began her trip to the kitchen? She kept herself from bursting with anger, and sat down next to Edith to calm her down.

"It's okay..." Margo whispered, as her little sister rested her head against her shoulder. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Lucy hadn't noticed Margo enter the kitchen at first, but as the 12-year-old comforted her little sister, she finally acknowledged it. That feeling of guilt swept across her once again, and she found herself helplessly staring at her frightened daughters. She wanted to say something. To do something! But for some reason, she just couldn't...

She just wanted the ambulance to get here quickly so Gru didn't have to lay on the kitchen floor anymore. She just wanted him to be safe...

As the sounds of the sirens coming down the street became audible, Lucy jumped up and felt a mixture of relief and fear. At this point, all she cared about was getting Gru to the hospital.

As the three paramedics littered into the kitchen, Edith turned away and buried her face into Margo's side. She didn't want to see her father being lifted out of the kitchen. Margo put her arms around her sister and watched on. Even though she was still shocked by the events of tonight, she knew she had to keep it together. For her sisters' sake's...

As the paramedics lifted Gru onto the stretcher and out of the house, Lucy followed on behind. As she left through the front door, a faint thought popped into her head. A thought she realized she should've thought sooner.

 _'What about the girls?'_

She turned to face Margo who was following her, accompanied by Edith at her side. Margo kept her eyes fixed on Gru, with the occasional worrying glance towards her younger sister. Lucy knelt down until she was at Margo's level.

"Margo, I need you to be a big girl and look after your sisters!" She exclaimed.

Margo suddenly felt frustration as she began to ask a question in her mind.

 _'Isn't that what she'd been doing all night anyway?'_

Instead of saying anything, Margo nodded and kept herself from using words that would make the situation worse. Without a moments hesitation, Lucy ran up to the ambulance and followed the stretcher into the back of it.

As the ambulance flew down the street at speed, Margo watched on in fear. Her mind began to fill with questions and worries as she felt her grip on calmness fade away. However, as Edith's grasp on her side got tighter, her mind snapped back into reality.

She closed the front door and lead her younger sister into the living room so they could sit down and take a step back. She needed to be the mature one...

* * *

As Lucy stared down at Gru's unconscious body in the back of the ambulance, she began to feel that feeling of helplessness fade away.

At first she didn't know why it took so long to disappear, but then she realized it was because she was away from the girls...

...and that realization made the guilt return.

* * *

 _And there, Chapter Three comes to an end._

 _I'll be honest, I was taken aback a little while writing this. Especially the part where Edith genuinely thought her adoptive father had passed away..._

 _I'm not ashamed to admit that I was struggling to hold back a few tears._

 _But you may be starting to notice a few unexplored ideas popping up. These will be explored a little more as the story progresses._

 _Can't wait to release the next chapter. As always, please review. It always motivates me to write more as I read a new review._


	4. Rude Awakenings

_So the last chapter got a little intense I know. Even though I can't promise this won't be intense, it won't be as intense as Chapter Three._

 _I think it's about time we get Gru back into this story, don't you?_

 _I bet you've been missing him..._

 _Thanks to anyone who reviewed! As I said in Chapter Two, it means a lot more than you may think!_

* * *

 **Chapter Four -  
** _ **Rude Awakenings**_

Margo and Edith sat slumped in the living room. They were constantly reliving every second of that traumatic experience in their minds. Margo was occasionally finding herself drift off into an ocean of worry and sadness, before clicking back into the living room at the last second. She wasn't gonna let herself break down in front of Edith.

Edith continued to sit in shock. A normal 9-year-old girl wouldn't have a clue what to think after such a traumatic event...

...but she wasn't a normal 9-year-old girl.

 _Was she?_

She felt tears reappear in her eyes. She clutched harder onto the pillow she had been holding for around ten minutes, before finding herself needing the touch of another person. She wandered over to her big sister who was sitting on the sofa and snuggled up against her...

...just like she would do with Gru when she felt ill.

Margo embraced the affection she was receiving from her younger sister. It was as comforting to her as it was to Edith. She felt like she was a mother caring for her young. Even though she found herself relaxing at this thought, her mind was still racing at a million miles an hour.

She just hoped Gru was okay...

* * *

Lucy sat in the waiting room of the hospital.

Just like she did in bed a few hours earlier, she was playing the events of the whole day, including the past hour and a half, in her mind. Only this time, she wasn't being met by overwhelming love by these thoughts. Instead, she was met by a multitude of varying emotions. One of which was that feeling... _that unnamed feeling._

She was now beginning to picture her actions more clearly in her mind. How she ignored her children when she entered the kitchen, how she failed to calm Edith down when she was hysterical, how she almost allowed Agnes to find her dad unconscious, how she decided against comforting her 9-year-old daughter when she was in a state of shock.

She felt the largest amount of guilt that she had ever felt before in her life. She began to chastise herself in her mind.

 _'How could you do that?'_

 _'Why wouldn't you do that?'_

 _'How could you just do nothing?'_

And finally...

 _'Why couldn't you just be a good mother!?'_

That last one hit her like a huge thump to the head. Was she...

...was she a bad mother?

Before she had time to evaluate and come up with an answer to that dreadful question, a nurse approached her.

"Mrs. Gru?" She asked, snapping Lucy out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" Lucy quietly responded.

Before allowing the nurse to reply, she quickly found herself asking another question. "Is he okay!?"

"He's perfectly fine, Mrs Gru." The nurse calmly responded. "He's awake and is looking a lot better."

Those words comforted Lucy as much as the world's biggest hug. Maybe this ordeal could finally come to an end.

"I'll take you to him, and there we can discuss exactly what happened." The nurse continued with a knowing demeanor, as if she had said those words a million times before. Lucy nodded and followed her as she took her through several different hallways towards Gru's hospital bed.

* * *

Gru woke up to the sound of distant chatter. He could slowly begin to feel the press of the bed on his back and the timid weight of the air on his skin. However, he didn't open his eyes. His mind wasn't ready to know where he was or what happened. First, he had to gather his thoughts.

He began by attempting to remember his last memory before everything went black. It was a struggle, but Gru could now remember everything up to and including his decision to head to the kitchen to get painkillers. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember ever getting there.

After collecting his last memory, Gru began to question why this happened. At this point, he figured he was ready to open his eyes.

As he did so, the shine of the light in the hospital room made his head sting with that familiar pain from before. He groaned as he quickly blinked and turned his head away from it. This alerted the only nurse in the room to his return to consciousness. As she turned to see him shuffling his head away from the ceiling light, she left the room to inform the doctor.

By the time Gru had realized he was in a hospital, the doctor had entered the room and calmly greeted Gru.

"Hello there Mr. Gru." He said, in a slightly higher voice than his appearance implied. "How are we feeling?"

"Well..." Gru replied. "I'm alive, so I'm guessing I'm feeling pretty good."

He surprised himself with his jokingly happy response. The event that had just occured and the pain he was still feeling in his head should've made him upset, but he still carried that same excitement from before in his mind.

The doctor chuckled before turning to the nurse beside him. "Go inform Mrs. Gru."

"Yes, doctor." She replied, before walking out of the room with a professional swagger. The doctor wandered over to Gru's bed and sat down on one of the chairs beside him.

"Once your wife arrives, we'll see if we can't figure out why you lost your consciousness." He stated. After hearing that his wife was at the hospital with him, his mind questioned the location of his daughters.

"Are my gurls wit her?' Gru asked, listening for the response he wanted.

"I didn't see anyone else with her when she walked in." The doctor replied. Gru's smiling expression disappeared quickly at the sound of those words. If they weren't here at the hospital, they must be all alone in the house. Dr. Nefario was still frozen in carbonite, so he knew that he wasn't looking after them. All the minions were off on a villainy spree with Dru, so he knew they weren't looking after them. How could Lucy leave them all alone?

"For someone who has just returned to consciousness, you really sound upbeat Mr. Gru." The doctor said, giving Gru a smile.

Gru falsely returned the smile, but the happiness and excitement was starting to fade as the realization of where he was and what was happening was beginning to dawn upon him.

Just as his mind began to forge more questions and answers, in walked the aforementioned nurse and his wife. Lucy broke into a large smile when she saw him awake and quickly ran over to his bed.

"Gru! Thank god you're okay! Are you alright? What happened?" She found herself saying quickly. Before Gru could respond, the doctor got up out of his seat and chimed in.

"That's what we hope to find out." He said, picking a clipboard up off the table. "What do you remember before you fell unconscious Mr. Gru?"

Gru began to explain everything. He went through his whole day, telling the doctor all about every activity and every feeling. He struggled to talk about that night, but he knew he had to. The pain he felt when he transitioned from darkness to light, the vomiting, the blurred vision, the increased heart-rate. As he was talking, he could see the doctor was taking a lot of notes, and nodding as if he already knew what he was going to reply with.

"...and de next ting I knew, I was here." Gru ended with, only now noticing that he had been explaining for five whole minutes.

"Hm-hmm...yes. And you said you failed to get an adequate amount of sleep last night?" The doctor responded, not looking away from his notes.

"Yes...eet made my day really tiring."

"Yep, sounds like a severe case of migraine to me." The doctor said, putting the clipboard down to his side and giving Gru his full attention. "You must have really tired yourself out if it caused you to fall unconscious."

"Yes well, today was de first day ov de summer holidays..." He replied, shifting his gaze away from everyone. "...and I wanted to make eet a special day for my gurls."

Lucy was touched by this admittance. She knew it must've been hard for him to admit that to the doctor, as he didn't want to weaken his intimidating appearance. But the fact that he still said it, made those words even more heartwarming.

The doctor smiled after hearing this and looked satisfied with the information he was given.

"Well in that case Mr. Gru, you should probably head home. Just take it easy over the next few days, watch TV with your girls a little more instead of sprinting around your back garden with them."

This reminded Gru of the anger he felt towards Lucy for leaving the girls on their own, but waited until the doctor and nurse weren't around before he brought it up.

"We'll complete a little bit of paperwork for you and then we'll allow you to leave, okay." The doctor said, now beginning to glance over to Lucy as well as Gru.

"Thank you, doctor." Lucy said, giving him a beaming smile.

"Just doing my job." He responded while shrugging and returning that beaming smile. "You folks have a nice summer now." He said before walking out. The nurse followed shortly behind him.

The second the room consisted of only Gru and Lucy, she turned around and bent down to give her husband a massive hug.

"You got me so worried!" She said with a relieved cheer in her voice. Gru accepted the hug, but didn't say anything. His mind was now planning out how he was gonna play this. Should he be outright angry with her, or just give her the indication that what she did wasn't right.

Remembering that she wasn't a certain 9-year-old girl, who will remain unnamed, but instead a grown woman, he decided that he should just be straight with her.

After she finally let go, Gru put on a fake calm smile.

"So...where are de gurls?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Still at the house. Why?" Lucy responded. Finding himself get even more frustrated by her calm response, Gru quickly replied.

"Wit no-one watching dem...?"

Lucy was finally realizing her mistake, but what other choice did she have? She couldn't just leave Gru at the hospital on his own. But then again...she couldn't just leave the girls at the house on their own. It was a lose-lose situation. As her mind twisted and turned in an attempt to respond to this difficult question, she found herself giving a timid excuse.

"W-Well...M-Margo is watching them."

"Yes, but Margo ees only twelve!" Gru angrily retorted. "She eesn't ready to look after de gurls on her own!"

Lucy found herself slightly lost for words. She rattled her brain in search for an excuse, like a small child who broke a vase.

"Well she did a better job looking after the girls than I did when we found you unconscious!"

Lucy hurt her own feelings with those words. She knew she was correct. Margo had acted more like a mother than she had and it made her feel disgusted with herself. She began to relive those moments again.

She didn't realize that her choice of words sent a chill down Gru's spine.

"Yoo mean..." Gru quietly replied after a few seconds of awkward silence. "De gurls saw me unconscious...?"

Lucy broke herself out of her self-loathing and turned to Gru with evident worry in her eyes. Gru noticed this and already began to feel sick to his stomach.

"...well...yes." She replied, taking a huge gulp. "Edith was actually the one who found you. But only Margo and Edith saw you like that...Agnes didn't."

Even though he was happy to hear Agnes hadn't seen him, Gru still felt his heart skip a beat. The two girls were very young, and must not have known what was going on.

His mind began to fling itself down different paths in an attempt to imagine how they reacted. In hindsight, he should not have thought about it. But at the time, Gru was too lost in curiosity to even consider not thinking about it.

He kept running different simulations of the reactions of his two daughters.

He started to wonder how someone would react the first time they saw someone they loved in trouble.

How a young child would react the first time they saw someone they loved in trouble.

That's when it hit him...

 _...this wasn't the first time they'd seen someone they loved in trouble._

They were, of course, orphans before Gru adopted them. And even though they never liked to talk about it, he did find out that Margo remembered the death of her biological parents vividly. He also found out that Edith couldn't remember who her parents were nor the day they died, as she was too young, but she did remember the feeling she felt that day.

He remember her saying that she didn't know what the feeling was...

Gru felt his stomach heave and churn in fear, as he realized they must've assumed the worst when seeing him unconscious. I mean, if he wasn't waking up when they saw him, then the obvious conclusion to them was that he was...

In a state of pure panic for his daughters, he broke the long silence that he didn't realize was there until now.

"...how did dey react?" He unwillingly asked, desperately trying to get the answer to the despicable question that needed answering. Upon hearing this, Lucy attempted to provide this answer. But as she tried to remember exactly how they reacted, she felt herself get hit with a wave of emotion as her brain replayed those moments.

"They...um...she-"

Lucy felt the tears rush to her eyes and pour out before she could even finish her sentence. She slumped down on the seat situated beside Gru and held her head in her hands. She could feel Gru's eyes were directly upon her, and she knew she needed to say something.

"Edith...she...she completely broke down." She said, uncovering her face and staring directly at Gru. "She screamed at me...she needed me! And I did nothing!"

Gru was shocked to hear his wife's loud response. After hearing it, he instantly felt sorry for Edith, and wished for her to be there with him so he could give her a huge cuddle.

For Lucy on the other hand, he wasn't sure whether or not to feel sorry or feel angry towards her. But before he could decide, she continued her emotional, yet angry, breakdown.

"She was completely hysterical and needed a motherly figure more than ever...and she found it in Margo!"

Her choice of words made it seem like she was angry towards her daughters, but that was far from the truth. She was angry towards herself.

She kept quiet for a few seconds, getting herself ready to say the next sentence of her emotional breakdown.

The sentence that was about to be the final straw for her...

"The way I ignored the two of them when they were in trouble, it reminded me of..of..."

She couldn't say it. The _unnamed feeling_ wouldn't let her say it. She always made sure to keep that part of her life private, in fear that people would know a weakness in her. And one thing that you want to avoid if you're an agent for the AVL, is people finding out your weaknesses.

She put her head down and kept it down until Gru responded about a minute later.

Gru could hardly believe his eyes as he watched his wife go through this kind of emotion. He made his decision, he felt deeply sorry for her. He just wanted her to stop crying.

He was beginning to understand what she meant about Edith. She must feel severely guilty that she couldn't be the mother that Edith needed. And he figured that it must've killed her to watch her go to Margo for comfort.

So why...

 _...why couldn't she be a mother to Edith when she needed her?_

As he awaited for Lucy to speak that last sentence, that he could tell was gonna hurt her, he was kind of relieved to watch her stumble and stop herself.

He couldn't watch his wife go through this anymore. He gave her a minute to calm down before saying...

"I think eet's time to go home."

* * *

 _Well...I don't know where that came from._

 _I'll be honest, this was the first chapter that I've written without having a plan beforehand._

 _In the end, I found myself writing and seeing what I came up with. I hope the quality didn't suffer because of this._

 _I hope I did answer at least a few questions in this chapter, and the next chapter will begin to elaborate more on what hasn't been said._

 _Really excited to get working on Chapter Five now, which I do have a plan for..._


	5. Letting Go

_Well then, these last two chapters have most likely given you a lot of questions, am I right?_

 _This will be the chapter to answer it all. It's time to settle the tension that this story is beginning to convey._

 _As I say at the start of every chapter, thanks to anyone who reviewed the last chapter._

 _Anyway, let's get into this..._

* * *

 **Chapter Five -  
** _ **Letting Go**_

He really didn't want to do it, but he didn't have a choice. Since they got to the hospital by ambulance, Gru's rocket car was not around to drive back home. He pretended that he didn't have a solution for a few minutes as they sat on a bench outside the hospital, hoping Lucy would give in and get a taxi or something. But that's when she came up with the same solution as him...

"Why don't you call your mother to come pick us up?"

Gru didn't like to call his mother, especially when he needed to ask her for a favor. Out of ideas, Gru huffed and took his phone out of his pocket before dialing the dreaded number. It had rung a few more times than normal, and Gru filled with hope as he prayed that she wouldn't pick up.

"Uch...hello Gru." A shrill, tired voice over the phone said.

Then again, nothing was seeming to go right for him today.

"Hi, mom." Gru replied, mirroring the shrill in his voice. "Do yoo tink yoo could come pick me and Lucy up from de hospital?"

"Uh...it's three thirty in de mornin' Gru!" She replied, sounding as if she stretched with annoyance and fatigue in bed.

Gru noticed that she didn't even pick up on the fact that he was at the hospital, but didn't get surprised. She was always one who cared for herself a lot more than she cared for others.

Finally, the word sinked in and she quickly continued.

"Wait, de hospital!? Are de gurls okay?"

Gru felt himself get a little hurt that she didn't ask if _he_ was okay. But again, he had become accustomed to the way his mother dealt with things. And I guess he was thankful that she didn't treat the girls the same way as she treated him...

But for the question at hand, he really didn't actually know the answer. They had been left alone and anything could've happened. Before he became stiff with fear, he responded to her question with hope.

"Yeh...dey're...uh...fine." He muttered, trying his hardest to make sure his mother wouldn't catch on to his fear. But his mother wasn't a stupid person. She had known Gru longer than anyone else did, and could always tell when he was lying to her.

"Dey don't sound okay to me!" She loudly responded.

"Look, eet's a long story. So come pick me and Lucy up and we'll tell yoo about eet!"

Before she could reply, Gru hung up the phone. He put his hands across his face and began aggressively sliding them down. He was stressing himself out, and that's not a good idea when you have a migraine...

Lucy noticed his bout of stress, and knew she needed to say something to calm him down. But just like she did with the girls, she couldn't muster a single word. She stared at him with that now familiar helpless gaze, before turning away and growling with anger.

This alerted Gru and he turned around to face his wife. He calmed himself down so that he could cater to her.

"Yoo okay, honey?" He quietly asked.

Lucy couldn't take it anymore. She was feeling so guilty and so confused that she felt her mind lean towards the point of bursting!

 _WHY COULDN'T SHE JUST SAY SOMETHING!?_

"I'm trying to comfort you, but for some reason I just can't!" She quickly and angrily replied, without even meeting his gaze.

Gru couldn't understand why his wife was like this. He could tell that she was hiding something, but decided it wasn't a good idea to try and reveal it in public.

After twenty minutes of awkward silence, Gru's mother pulled up alongside the bench with a worried and quizzical expression.

"Where are de gurls?" She asked, as Gru and Lucy got into the car.

"Still at de house..." Gru timidly replied, as if he was a small child admitting to their wrong doing.

"On deir own!?" His mother loudly responded. She still hadn't driven away as she was too busy giving Gru a death stare. "How could yoo be so irresponsible!? Yoo call yourself a father!?"

Feeling a wave of anger, Gru realized that he was in no mood for his mother's chastising.

"If yoo'll give me a chance, I'll explain why!" He loudly responded. He was fuming now. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he figured that it had something to do with his mother...

* * *

As she drove them back home, Gru told his mother everything that had happened from start to finish, just like he did at the hospital. He hoped that she could provide him with some parental support, but that's when he remembered who he was talking to.

"I still can't beelieve yoo would leave dem on dier own..." She said disappointingly. Gru furiously stared at her with his bottom lip quivering in anger. Was she even listening to him?

"I was unconscious! I had no control over dat!" Gru angrily retorted before crossing his arms and turning away from her.

Lucy felt like she was being indirectly blamed. She felt so guilty for what she had done. Her mind kept replaying the events in her head, and each time she saw Edith's sad face or Gru's stressed expression, she got a little closer to that bursting point...

Gru felt the anger bubble up inside him. The way his mother was treating him was now beginning to hurt him deeply. And as his mind began to rush around, he found words that he'd been holding back for a while. Words he didn't even _realize_ he was holding back.

"Yoo know, I could do wit having a mother right now!" He yelled, quickly turning to face her. "Can't _yoo_ be dat mother for once!"

Gru's mother mirrored the same pain as him as she heard those words. She didn't like his son, but she still loved him. She felt the urge to turn and meet his angry gaze, but she had to keep her eyes on the road. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't say anything.

"Gru..." She began. "Yoo may be a useless son and an irresponsible father..."

Gru felt the anger froth over the top of his limit...

"...but yoo're still my son. I'll always be dere when yoo need me."

...and suddenly, it all vanished.

This was a very rare occurrence. Gru's mother had only ever said those kind of words once before. And that was the day that Gru's grandmother had died...

...the only day when he was seriously in need of a mother.

He felt tears rush to his head, but he held them back. Lost for words, Gru muttered the first thing that came into his head.

"Th-thank you, mom."

"Yoo're welcome, son." She replied. "But enough of dat, I still can't beelieve yoo'd leave de gurls on deir own!"

Gru could only chuckle when she said that. For the rest of that car ride, he felt like he had finally let go...

He wasn't exactly sure what he had let go of, but it was something.

Meanwhile, Lucy's guilt had reached it's peak...

...she was edging closer to her bursting point...

* * *

As they pulled up into the driveway of Gru's house, every person inside the car jumped out and rushed to the door. They were all feeling the same level of worry for the three girls.

After Gru opened the door to the house, which had been left irresponsibly unlocked, the three of them hurried in and scanned the hallway. Everything seemed fine, but they hadn't searched the other rooms yet...

As Lucy searched the kitchen and his mother continued to scan the hallways, Gru peeked his head into the living room.

He felt an overwhelming sense of relief to see Margo and Edith fast asleep on the sofa.

He was so touched by the way that they cuddled each other in their sleep, that he didn't want to call his wife or mother to inform them of their safety just yet. He just wanted to stroll over and take in the adoring sight.

As he slowly walked over to them, Margo's eyes flung open quickly. She must've been on red alert, even while sleeping.

As she turned to see Gru looking down at the two girls with a tired smile, Margo felt the urge to shout with relief. But she didn't want to wake her younger sister.

" _Dad..._ " She tiredly whispered. " _Thank god you're okay._ "

As much as she tried to keep herself quiet, Edith was awoken by the sounds of her sister's whispering. When she saw the now conscious Gru, her eyes widened with the same overwhelming relief as her father's had felt to see them.

"Dad!" She shouted before running over and hugging onto his legs. He will still a little sore all over from his fall, but he ignored the pain and embraced the loving hug. Margo then quickly jumped up and joined in.

After around ten seconds of warm silence, Gru broke the hug and knelt down to get to Edith's level.

"Did your seester do a good job looking after yoo?" He quietly spoke. Edith nodded in response, and then felt the tears bubble up in her eyes.

"...I thought I lost you."

Gru felt an instant rush of emotion hit him. He wanted to grab her and comfort her until the end of time. But at the last second, his mind thought back to Lucy.

The anger she said she felt. The guilt she said she felt. The feeling of helplessness she said she felt. This was the perfect opportunity for her to right her wrong.

Every fiber of his being told him to tell Edith what she needed to hear. But he resisted. Lucy needed to be the one to tell her. As he turned his head around to call Lucy to the room, he was shocked to see that both her and his mother were standing at the doorway. They'd seen everything.

His mother had a tear in her eye, and watched with the warmest smile he'd ever seen her show. He couldn't remember the last time he saw her cry. He couldn't remember if he'd ever seen her cry.

Lucy on the other hand stared at them with that same helpless gaze. Gru knew that if this didn't work out, everything would be made a million times worse.

But he had to take that risk!

He used his finger to gesture Lucy over to him. Lucy froze in fear for a second, as her mind figured that Gru wanted her to speak to the Edith. She couldn't do that! How would I start? What would she say? How would she say it?

But as she began stressing inside, she felt a feeling of willingness take over her. A feeling of willingness that she'd never felt before.

Her mind thought back to the words Gru's mother had used in the car.

"I'll always be dere when yoo need me." Echoed in her head.

She found herself jogging over to Gru's side. She didn't say anything to him. She already knew what to do.

As she knelt down to Edith's level, the feeling of helplessness came back again. She remained silent for a few seconds, before she broke herself out of it. She had had enough. She had passed her bursting point...

"Edith..." She began. "I want you to know how much...how much your dad and I love you. Love all of you."

She started speaking from the depths of her heart and mind. Much like Edith did with Gru after she found him unconscious.

"We love you to the bottoms of our heart's. To me, all four of you are my everything! Without you, I would be nothing. I know that from experience..."

Edith was listening hard. She wasn't crying. She wanted to take every word in.

Margo watched apprehensively. She was afraid that Lucy was about to say or do something that would make it impossible for her to hold on to her emotions anymore.

Lucy could feel her head run at a million miles an hour. Something was begging her to stop talking. _The unnamed feeling_ was trying hard to take over. She refused to let it take control.

She was finally letting go...

"I didn't know what to say earlier...because nobody had ever said it to me. When I felt bad, my mother and father never did anything. They never cared. And after they passed away when I was 8, I thought _nobody_ was ever going to care."

This was the first time she had ever mentioned that she was an orphan. Margo and Gru both took a step back in shock. Edith remained dead still. She was still clinging on to every word.

"Nobody wanted to adopt me. And when I was finally too old for the orphanage, they kicked me out and I was left alone for many, many years. But after I met your dad and you three girls, everything in my life changed, and I now have people who care. I wanted to make sure that you girls wouldn't go through the same as me...to make sure you weren't ignored when you were in need. But I just didn't know what to do! Every part of me told me to comfort you, but I found myself freezing in fear. I felt so guilty watching you, and after I couldn't muster anything to say, I thought that no matter how hard I tried I would never be a mother. But it took until tonight for me to realize that..."

She put her hands on Edith's shoulders.

"...I _am_ your mother, I will always be there for you when you need me."

Edith felt a weight of emotion lift off of her. But for some reason, this made her cry as hard as she did when she had lost hope earlier that night.

She threw herself forward and grabbed Lucy as if she was her mother.

She grabbed Lucy _because_ she was her mother.

Lucy grabbed Edith tightly in return. She started to let out all of her tears, and didn't hold back until she was sure they were all gone.

Gru watched on and knew that his risk had payed off. He smiled as a river of tears flooded his eyes before joining the hug.

Margo watched this show with clenched fists. She felt every fear, every worry and every doubt she had felt that night smack her in the face. As it did before, her mind began to drift off into an ocean of worry and sadness. She desperately tried to cling on and return to reality before it was too late.

But as she saw her younger sister hug Lucy as she would do to her.

She realized...

 _...she could finally let go._

She unclenched her fists and flung herself into the hug. She joined her family in crying a tsunami of tears.

Gru's mother found herself compulsively joining the hug. She had also lost control of her tears.

And even though everyone that was participating in the hug was crying their eyes out...

...there was no sadness in the room.

Everyone was letting go...

* * *

 _Phew...that one was hard to write._

 _We're not done yet though! We still have another chapter..._


	6. The Real Perfect Day

_There isn't really much to say here I don't think._

 _I'll let this final chapter do the talking..._

* * *

 **Chapter Six -  
** _ **The Real Perfect Day**_

As Gru opened his eyes, the morning light had well taken over his room. Even though he wasn't awake to watch it glide in, he was still comforted by the thought of it doing so. He had got plenty of sleep the night before, after a full day of rest and relaxation. The pain in his head had now completely faded and he was back to normal. He turned over in bed to face his wife, who he was surprised to see wasn't there. His eyes widened as he quickly shifted his gaze to the alarm clock. The red LED lights read '11:27AM'.

 _'13 hours sleep! Seriously?'_ He thought to himself, feeling a strange sense of pride towards this small accomplishment. As his mind began to wake up, a familiar feeling of excitement built up inside him. Today was the third day of the summer holidays, but it was going to be the best day of the summer holidays...so far. He was gonna spend all day with his family, but this time, _nothing_ was gonna go wrong.

As he laid there thinking, his mind was snapped out of his thoughts by the sounds of the girls and Lucy laughing downstairs. He couldn't help himself but smile and laugh along with them, even though he had no clue what they were laughing about. He continued to lay there for a minute, appreciating the feeling of the happiness bubbling up inside him, and then decided to get up and get himself ready for the day.

After getting changed out of his pajamas, he came downstairs and entered the kitchen, where he was met by the welcome of the girls and Lucy.

"Daddy!" Agnes shrieked, giving Gru a huge smile.

"Hello gurls." Gru responded, giving each one of them a kiss and a cuddle. "Morning honey."

"Morning Gru." Lucy replied through a beaming smile. "Feeling any better?"

"Wit all of yoo to wake up to, I feel much better." Gru warmly replied as he gave Lucy a huge kiss. Margo and Agnes heartwarmingly watched on with a smile. They loved watching their parents show affection. Edith found herself smirk a little as well. She didn't find it repulsive when _she_ was one of the people mentioned in his affection.

She was making sure to take all of this precious moment to heart...

Gru looked over to the kitchen sink, where he noticed two soiled bowls, a half-full jug and a dirty spoon. All of the ingredients to make waffles had been left by the side of them.

"Wait...yoo made waffles? I thought yoo couldn't cook..." Gru said, narrowing his eyes at Lucy with a playful smile. But before she could answer, Edith chimed in.

"She can't. They were disgusting..." She said, pulling a revolted face. "But who cares. At least she tried."

Everyone's mouth dropped a little in surprise to hear Edith say that. Usually, when someone did something wrong, she would make sure they knew it by jokingly chastising them until the end of time. But this time, she was strangely sympathetic. As she noticed that everyone was looking towards her, Edith realized that her image was being tarnished.

"But don't try again!" She exclaimed, giving Lucy a menacing smirk. Everyone chuckled at this, but Agnes found herself nodding in agreement. Some things are best left for Gru to do...

Gru moved over to the kettle, where he made himself a cup of coffee. After making it just the way he liked it, he energetically strolled back over to the table, where Lucy moved herself over a little to make room for him to sit down. The second that Gru sat down, Agnes turned very quickly to face Lucy.

"So, now can we talk about what we're gonna do today!?" She said, bouncing up and down and speaking so loud and fast that Lucy jumped a little as she started to speak.

Gru chuckled as he watched his daughter get excited. Of course, she felt no different after the occurrence of recent events. Mainly because she wasn't involved in them. Thankfully...

"Oh! Of course." Lucy replied, before turning to look around at her family. "What does everyone fancy doing today then?"

As he watched his family argue over what to do, Gru realized something that gave him a comforting feeling. It didn't matter to him what they did today, just as long as he got to do it with his family.

And as long as he got to do it without getting himself too fatigued...

"I know..." Gru said, with a voice that caught everyone's attention. "Why don't we all have a tea party?"

Edith and Agnes cheered with excitement, before running off into the living room to set it up. Margo got up to follow them, but found herself hold back. She turned to face her parents, and waited with them.

"Aren't you gonna help them set it up?" Lucy asked, after noticing Margo stop herself.

"I think they can handle it without me..." She replied.

* * *

Later that night, the girls were running around their bedroom, finding activities to do in every corner.

However, instead of doing their own individual activities. They did everything together! And even though Edith hated playing unicorns with Agnes, she forced herself to do so and tried hard to enjoy herself.

She knew she had to be the big sister for Agnes...

As the clock clicked over to 10pm, Lucy and Gru entered the bedroom to announce that it was bedtime.

"Come on den gurls. Lights out." Gru blurted. The girls were about to give a collective groan, but then realized that their dad was starting to look a little tired. Without arguing, they all went off to each other's individual beds.

 _'At least I don't have to play with stupid unicorns anymore...'_ Edith thought to herself.

The couple went over and gave them each a goodnight kiss. Lucy felt her heart melt a little more as she went over to each girl.

The way Agnes held onto her unicorn...

The way Edith held onto her pillow...

The way Margo...wasn't holding onto anything...

She felt like she was ready to answer that dreadful question from earlier...

 _'I think I'm a good mother.'_ She thought to herself.

As they left from the dark bedroom to the light hallway, Gru appreciated that he could no longer feel the pain from the transition.

"Fancy watcheeng a movie before bed?" He asked his wife.

Lucy was touched to hear this question, and was about to agree to it. But as she noticed that the bags under Gru's eyes were becoming more prominent, she realized that she needed to reject his proposition.

She knew she would treasure laying beside Gru in bed as much as she treasured watching a movie with him.

"Not really..." She said.

Gru felt a little offended as she rejected him, but that is until she continued.

"I'd rather just talk with you in bed."

* * *

The couple walked into their bedroom slowly. They jumped into bed, where they were met by the soft comfort of their mattress'.

As they laid there, they talked to each other about the events of the day. The way Lucy was forcefully woken up by Agnes at 8am, the way that Gru was greeted as he entered the kitchen, they way the girls got excited by the idea of a tea party, the way they both said goodnight to them.

They felt a huge feeling of love build up inside them. Love that they decided to share with each other that night. They gave each other a huge kiss before Gru turned and said something that sent a shock of excitement through Lucy's heart.

"I haven't even told yoo about de roadtreep yet..."

 **THE END**


End file.
